Customer Reviews

Safe Word

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Again, I read this book in one sitting. I found that Weatherfield's writing has matured and that she is almost delightful in her explicit detail of S/M & B/D. However, I give it four stars because, her switching back and forth was confusing. One moment you're reading about Carrie's expereinces and suddenly you're looped back into Jonathan. I don't like back and forth stuff and so 4 starts she gets. I especially loved the pony training and how Carrie experiences the other side and Kate...the growth with her is spectacular. This book makes B/D almost bareable and although you may find yourself feeling shocked into another world...it is merely the way of life there. I like the fact that Carrie is always taken very good care of- despite the fact being in some very difficult conditions. That care shows some sensibility in the book. I started to get the hang of what to expect. And so will you.

Very sexually explicit but not as explict as the first book. I do recommend you reading the first book before moving on to this one or you will be confused. A+ to Weatherfield. Looking for more from her.

For some sick reason I felt the need to see what happened to Carry after the auction, so I purchased Safe World. This is one of the most annoying books I've tried to read. I have no idea what the author was trying to accomplish by shifting writing styles but it really didn't work well. The story shifts points of view over and over again. So its Carrie talking about her new master, or Carrie in the present tense, or Johnathan in the present tense, or Johnathan talking about what he was up to while Carrie was gone or its this all knowing third person narrator in the present tense. Its just too much back and forth. This book didn't have much about to keep my attention for too long so it took a few days to read it.
As for the story
It starts off with Carrie meeting Johnathan after a year in Greece with her new master. Carrie and Johnathan spend four days together in France doing nothing much except telling stories of the past year and having a lot of sex. Then on the fifth day Johnathan tells her its time for her to come back to him to be his slave and she falls back into the role easily. Johnathan gives Carrie the new arrangement and particulars and leaves her to decided if she's going to take him up on his offer which I won't spoil the details of here. This leaves Carrie with a choice to make and her choice was a bit of a welcomed surprise. It was the first bit of realism this story had captured since the beginning.
This book is still way too heavy on the ponies, so if that's not your deal, you wont really get into this. I'd estimate to be about 89.9% pony play. Even the BDSM parts are minimal compared to the freaking ponies...what's with the ponies??? Of course this book, like 'Carrie's Story', is so out there that its looses some of its appeal, but after you wrap your head around the idea of it being just a fantasy its a bit easier to get into.

I loved this book. Not just as porn, but as a real book. Though I definitely liked it as porn, as well. This author seems to be channeling every fantasy I ever had (and added a few to the list -- I never in a million years thought I could find pony girl stuff that hot.) Unlike some, I thought it had exactly the right amount of prurient detail -- for me it's the story, more than the blow by blow descriptions (well, you know what I mean), that does it.

It should definitely be read after Carrie's Story, to get the full impact of the characters, but I thought Safe Word was even better. Unlike several reviewers, I didn't find it confusing at all, though it takes some doing to follow the time line, as it switches back and forth between the present reunion between Carrie and Jonathan, her former master, and each of their stories concerning the events of their year apart.

I loved each of the characters -- I don't know how it's possible not to adore Carrie, with her sharp insights, her unsparing (but not at all unhappy) self-view, her wit, and her never-ending, insatiable, and constantly entertaining lust. And, while we knew in Carrie's Story that Jonathan was a bit compulsive and neurotic underneath his perfectly in-control, and perfectly dressed, persona, here he really turns into a real person -- flawed, sometimes silly, frequently faking it, and somehow, for all that, quite dear and still very, very hot.

Most of all, having come of age reading books like The Story of O and The Image (both of which, don't get me wrong, I dearly love), it was particularly satisfying to have those lovely mythologies taken apart and put back together in a way that made the heroine, while every bit as riveted by lust and abandon and the longing to obey, remain intact throughout. I won't talk about what actually happens at the end, for those who haven't read the book, though I will say I both hated and loved the ending, and it made me rethink all those myths, and the impact that their beauty and their despair had on my own self-view. I don't know how I can say more about a book than that.

Safe Word is the sequel to Carrie's Story. The story is a continuation from the first novel. I strongly suggest reading Carrie's Story first - it will provide the context for Safe Word which might otherwise be a little confusing (though I suspect it would stand up in its own right anyway).

The setting and format of the book are an interesting change from the first book. This time, instead of a simple first person narrative from the submissive Carrie, we are treated to a mix of Carrie and Jonathon (her former lover and Master) telling stories of the events of the previous year. That is the year that Carrie was (voluntarily) enslaved to a rich Greek financier and Carrie is now free and has been reunited with Jonathon. In between the stories a narrative is provided where appropriate.

I found the book as compelling as Carrie's Story and the change in format provided an interesting change in perspective. We still get the marvellous interior dialogue from Carrie (as though she were writing her secret thoughts to her diary) but now we get Jonathon's side of the story - and he turns out to be just as human as we suspected he might be. Unlike Sir Stephen (Story Of O) Jonathon is not all knowing and totally self-assured as we (Carrie) suspected he must be in the previous book. He is nearly so, but not quite.

Unlike other reviewers I didn't find the story confusing, and while there is certainly a flag that something unusual is on the way, I didn't expect the ending (perhaps I'm just dumb!)

There is plenty of sex and BDSM though perhaps not as graphic as some might wish. However, I don't think this is a minus. There is a fair bit of the story devoted to pony girls which I must confess is not really my cup of tea, but a testament to the skill of the author is that this did not cause me to put the book down. The writing is outstanding throughout and I have put Carrie's Story and Safe Word next to my copy of The Story Of O. The two books are that good in my opinion. Congratulations Molly Weatherfield!

If you enjoyed The Story Of O give this book and its prequel a go.

a year has gone by from the date the first book (carrie's story) took place, and we get a chance to visit all the main charecters, and most of the side charecters as well.

the person who mostly grew and developed throught that year, in my opinion, wasn't jonathan or carrie, but molly weatherfield. i found this book more mature, more interesting and less predictiable then the first one, in plot, style and choices of scenes and locations.

the plot take place in france, where carrie meets jonathan to talk, have sex and tell eachother sexy stories from their time apart, and so the book jumps from diffrent places and times and the 2 diffrent voices of the main charecters. i liked this hazy story line, andthe feeling i don't get full information.

molly weatherfild expend the range of fantasies she explore, she expend her intrest in human ponies, amphesize on public display and manners. there's also a very charming part about a girl playing a poodle and watersports (too short from my point of view, but that's just my personal preferences) the scenes are constructed well, and it's a very classy turn on book.

the things i liked less about this book were the attemped to make it more then it is - all the book references and art referation may add to the athmosphere but for me, that's not enough to make a book deep, there were several attemptes to say somthing and have some sort of a conclution or a subtext, an explanation to people's choices and a more global massage, and non of them actually contributed to a better understanding of the charecters or gave me a fresh look on fetish or life in general. also, and i'm not trying to spoil the book, i didn't care much for the suprise ending.

all and all, i had a very nice long weekend with this book, it's really hot and unlike many erotic novels, it's very well written, smart and funny, i think that anyone looking for a mild kink turn on litreture would like it a lot.

Not dull at all; I liked very much the way Molly delves into the minds of both Carrie and Jonathan. The visual imagery in the text is also very dynamic. Although both books in the series ("Carrie's Story" and "Safe Word") can stand alone by themselves, I recommend reading them both (of course) in order to see Carrie's growth through the length of the story.
Molly Weatherfield spices the story with humor, passion and romance, and reaches just about any reader with a heart that is looking for a place to belong.. masterfully written, perfectly performed! I loved it.

I thought that I couldn't read something hotter than Carrie's Story, but this was it!!!! I loved the way it switched from Carrie's perspective to Jonathan's! It was like reading a collection of stories, but with a common story sprinkled in the middle. Would recommend both books to anyone who has any interest in BDSM!!!!!

OK, I guess I'm a sap. Who knew? This book had me in tears at the end, and yes yes the sex parts were hot but honestly, I read it for the plot and for the main character. The same day I finished "Carrie's Story," I began calling bookstores for this book because I had to find out what happened to her! Weatherfield has created a strong, intellectual, brave, adventurous, believable heroine who is so easy to fall in love with or even identify with that you forget you're reading porn. I loved all the literary references and the tributes to "Story of O," which were honest and fitting through the end. I want to call Carrie up on the phone and find out what happens to her NEXT.

I'm giving it 4 stars only because the structure of the book didn't entirely work. I didn't find it confusing, though I can see how others might. I didn't feel that the writer stuck to any kind of structure at all - she would start to, and then change her mind, and this bugged me.

`Safe Word' by Molly Weatherfield is the sequel to `Carrie's Story'. When I reviewed the latter title, it was obvious that a sequel was in the works, as the story seems to so obviously stop in the middle of things. This novel is not quite so obviously designed to support a sequel, as it seems to give Carrie, the principle character, a clean break with all her paramours and dominants from these two novels. The opening for a third is simply made by leaving Carrie at the start of what may be a normal romantic relation with a new partner.

Like the first novel, this work is head and shoulders above practically all other novels in it's genre, as it successfully creates a backdrop to Carrie's submissive relations and uses this framework to create bridges between the more graphic events. In fact, it is no accident that the author quotes items and scenes from the famous novel `The Story of O' by Pauline Reage, as this is certainly the work against which this needs to be measured.

While both my visceral and intellectual response to this novel was positive, I could not help but find some weaknesses. The largest by far is the implausibility of the hidden culture of wealthy masters and permanent submissives who together travel around from one party and event to the next, and spend the time in between training the submissives to be better imitations of domestic animals. One of the great virtues of `The Story of O' is the plausibility of the backstory. While it did posit two households dedicated to training and housing submissives, these households were relatively small, and easily hidden in remote French country houses and chateau. Reage's story also has her heroine maintain her `day job' in between erotic incidents and vacations.

In truth, I may be just a bit too demanding, as this genre has its conventions just as science fiction or fantasy posits either impossible laws of physics or magic and spells out what things would be like if we make these assumptions. And, is this not really a fantasy. My only complaint is that the easier it is to suspend disbelief, as well as a character here and there, the more enjoyable is the story. I am surprised that, to my knowledge, no fiction writer in this genre has used the writers, actors, director, and crew engaged in making a bondage film as the scene for a novel. This is a legitimate venue for all sorts of variations and a strong plot element could be built out of putting something on the screen that is not so made up as one may think.

Even if I successfully suspended disbelief for the purpose of this story, I still missed a good representation of the psychology of submission that Reage does so well. I note one paragraph on page 31 which enters Carrie's mind and describes her reaction to some aspects of her submission, but by in large, this is all just a matter of fact recitation of events by Carrie to Jonathan or Jonathan to Carrie. Once we get the general picture of this world, most of which was explained in the first book, things run pretty much on autopilot. This visceral reaction means that the level of excitement created by the graphic scenes was not very high. At no point did it seem that the author created the kind of anticipation or realization that really turned on the juice for the reader. To compare this to scenes in the great fantasy novel, `Lord of the Rings', there was never any confrontation with the Balrog in Moria or tension at the funeral pyre of Denethor or drama at the killing of the Nazgul king on the Pellanor fields. I may be asking too much, but I do believe there was no good evocation of the great numenal mysticism on can find when one looses oneself to submission.

My final problem with this plot is that the device of the title is not introduced until the last few pages. I would have thought the `Safe Word' notion would have been explained in the beginning of the story to create a tension based on whether or not Carrie will reach a point where she will invoke it. Instead, it's introduced at the end, becoming a deux ex machina to get us out of the story.

I will buy and read Ms. Weatherfield's next book as soon as I hear of it's being published, but I will hope she adds a bit more spice to the psychology and a bit less implausibly to the backstory. I would also welcome a bit more color from Ms. Weatherfield's obvious interest in food and restaurants.

The others who reviewed this book found it far more entertaining than I did. Whatever innocence Carrie started with seems completely lost in this book. I have been familiar with the idea of training pony girls for some time, and I fail to find it erotically stimulating. All in all, I thought a book such a Lessons in Obedience far more entertaining.